Saturday, 18 October 2014

Last day itinerary was not planned at all and it was all up to the driver to decide where to bring us before going to the airport at around lunch time! So the driver fetched us at around 9 am and brought us to Kuta town for Kuta beach and Matahari shopping center. Kuta to me is something like streets in Bukit Bintang. It's just that Kuta is located by the deep blue sea!

Very clean town and 90% are just tourists walking on the streets of Kuta!

Balinese entrance to Kuta beach

Kuta beach.. Less than 15 minutes walk from Matahari shopping center

Hard Rock Cafe Bali spotted at Kuta!

She was so excited that she coincidentally wearing Hard Rock Osaka t-shirt! And we spend about RM 250 at Hard Rock souvenir shop because of this t-shirt =p

Time to say good bye for this amazing and relaxing trip in Bali! Bon voyage

So that was the end of my trip to Bali. Don't forget to keep at least Rph 200,000 for departure tax at the airport! Total money spent for this trip was about RM 1500 per person including air tickets and accommodations!

After an less than half an hour journey from Dreamland, we arrived at Uluwatu Temple. As warned by my driver, monkeys here are more aggressive than in Monkey Forest Temple. It seems those monkeys like to target spectacles and hanging small cameras and throw them away. Definitely you can get back but with a minimum charge if you get the staff there to pick up for you! Just be careful with your belongings!!!

So the best time to visit this place is during the evening around 5 pm which is before the sunset whereby you can enjoy the Kecak Dance at 6 pm while enjoying sunset! But be careful with people as well because it's very packed at that time as well as the site is not big! Don't fall off the cliff ya! =p Entrance fee to the temple is Rph 20,000 whereas for Kecak Dance is Rph 100,000 per person. There are 3 main parts only, the cliff to take pictures with the temple as background, the temple and the stage for performance.

The entrance of the temple

Beautiful swimming pool for the monkeys. It seems that those monkeys will come here automatically at 1 pm to swim in this pool! Interesting right?

The cliff to take pictures! Just watch out your steps... The wind is super strong over here!

At the stage for performance. Nice view picked by the driver to see the temple, the sunset while enjoying the performance, Kecak Dance... Be here about 15-20 minutes before the show starts to get a nice sit!

Kecak Dance, at 70 people performed on the stage! About 45 minutes for the whole show.. No need to take too much picture but just enjoy the show... =)

After the show, we went and checked into a hotel very near to Jimbaran! Then after that, the driver dropped us at a seafood center which he used to drop his customers there. An advice again by my driver, try not to order set because the portion might be smaller as the items on the plate are not according to the weight. Order individual dishes at the counter would be a better choice and try to order according to how much you can eat because the staff would just persuade you to take everything in big amount but obviously you can't finish at the end of the day! You just need to order the seafood, then they will compliment you with a vegetable, a soup, a starter and white rice. That's how the whole system works at this seafood restaurant at Jimbaran. I have no idea about the others! But not too worry about the price among the restaurants there because the dishes on the menu were set and controlled by the authorities.. =)

Deep fried squid... This is really good! =) But the portion that we ordered was a bit too big to feed 2 mouths..

Crab... Didn't manage to finish the dishes on the table, so we packed this back to the hotel for supper! This is very good as well. Just order one is good enough!

Grilled prawns in stead of fish because the fishes were too huge for 2 person. Nicely grilled and really really went well with their special made sambal and chopped onions!

In case you want to find a very nearby hotel, something like walking distance from the seafood restaurant! Sari Segara Resort is the choice, not too bad! A simple standard room is about RM 140 with 2 complimentary breakfast included...

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

As for the 3rd day, we met our driver at noon only. So after an early breakfast at our place, we went to Monkey Forest Temple to visit the monkeys and the temple! If you happen to visit places with lots of monkeys, try to avoid carrying black plastic bags and be extra careful of your belongings e.g. your specs! Don't get panic when the monkeys come near you! If you are steady with all of these rules, then you are ready to go!

The entrance of the forest.. Opens at 8.30 am. Kindly take note that there is no time difference between Bali and Malaysia!

The main temple in the forest!

The destroyer that likes to pick food from the offerings..

And the lazy one which like to sleep.. =p "What a good day!"

To walk around Ubud is not difficult, provided you stay in the middle of the town itself! To walk from the Monkey Forest to Ubud Market will take you about 20 minutes. So, don't waste your money on cabs if you want to just travel within the town! Ubud market is quite a good place to buy souvenirs but make sure that you bargain to more than half of the price before you take out your money. If you are not interested, just walk away and don't ask any further! Average price for one key chain can be about RM 1... For non halal food, you can just go for Babi Guling (suckling pig) at Ibu Oke. If you know how to venture, you can get the same food with half of the price (according to my driver)!

Ubud town/ Ubud market

Ibu Oka Restaurant for suckling pig combo!

Just realise that suckling pig is so so expensive in Bali!

A bowl of onion meat soup..

If you have extra time, try to visit this place. This place is just walking distance from Ibu Oka. The landmark for this place is Starbucks! Because we accidentally found this beautiful place while we were looking for Starbucks in Ubud!

Since we met up with the driver too early after our lunch, the driver took us to Dreamland before going to Uluwatu. The recommended time to visit Uluwatu is around 5 pm if you are interested with the Kecak Dance as well. So back to Dreamland, Dreamland is rather a new area in Bali. It's located in between Jimbaran and Uluwatu. It seems like it's an upcoming luxury area in Bali with a mini beach which is very suitable for surfing! To get to this place, your driver can just drop you at the parking area and you need to take a ride on the shuttle to the beach.

Dreamland!

Very beautiful beach and huge waves! Very worthy to travel all the way here just to see the beach even though the weather was so freaking hot!

After spending some time for coffee, we headed to Pura Tirta Empul (Temple of Holy Water) before lunch. If you ask Google for interesting places in Bali, this is also one of it! According to my driver, we must wash our face or clean ourselves at the first part of the temple before advancing deeper into the temple. Be careful while you are walking along the pool because the floor is super slippery. Just don't slip into the pool of holy water. Rph 15,000 for entrance fee for one person!

Pura Tirta Empul..

I guess you would think twice when you see where does the water comes from.. Anyway, nothing happen to my face.. Just wash your face as a sign of respect to the temple... =)

Altar for the 3 main Gods which represent water, fire and air...

As we advance into the temple, we saw a lot of ladies are preparing rice cake and "knitting" (I don't really know what the term call) bamboo leaves to prepare for the upcoming big feast. And again from my driver, many people in Bali couldn't afford to have individual worshiping services at their home. That is why all of them gather at the temple to worship together as this can really save up a lot of their money... Interesting right?!

Time to go for lunch! =)

As recommended by the blogs again, another must try food in Bali is the "Dirty Duck" at Bebek! There are 2 Bebek Benggil restaurant in Bali. So we chose Joni rather than the main one because Joni is nearer to travel from the temple. If you have no interest in duck, then you can just skip this place! Bebek for them means DIRTY whereas Benggil means DUCK. So there are 2 choices of duck on the menu, which are smoked or fried! For me, I prefer the smoked one because I like the sauce that they used to cook the duck! Something very special and interesting to try!

Restaurant facing the nice nice and nice paddy field! Time to capture some pictures while waiting for the food...

Complement with soya bean crackers!

Smoked duck with special satay and vegetables... Very good and the price is definitely good as well!

Deep fried style with sambals and onion sauce... Very crunchy at most of the part, you can even swallow down some parts of the bones!

Yea, one remainder! Please prepare extra cash and estimate about 20% extra with the price of your food because the tax in Bali is quite high!

** Sorry, no picture is allowed at the massage place. We went for a big package at Venezia Spa and spent remaining afternoon till evening there!**

Dinner at one of the cafe in Ubud town.. Just walking distance from Ubud Bungalow..

Very good Sup Tulang.. Good to have a bowl of hot soup with steamed rice at such a cooling weather! =)